NHVCyclist

It's getting cold out, and people are desperate. This is a sensitive issue that I hate to even bring up, but the line has been crossed far too frequently lately.

Panhandlers are approaching car doors as people park, essentially cornering them inside their cars. First ask for money, and if received, ask for a ride somewhere to buy a warm drink.
I've been around here long enough to know how to handle this, and have the luxury of not being easily intimidated physically. However, I've gotten multiple complaints from out of town/state visitors. Pretty embarrassing.

I am sympathetic to the situation. Due to being on the path between downtown and the emergency shelter, the upper part of Wooster Square bears a unique burden when it comes to the city's homeless population. The colder it gets, the worse it gets.
Would appreciate some action here, we have many cold months ahead of us.

Been thinking about this for a while - but this past weekend finally pushed me. Was painting my fence, which backs up to a building on Grand Ave, and nearly got peed on by someone who decided to urinate on the opposite side of my fence, not knowing I was there.

Grand Ave between Olive and Jefferson is a drag on our neighborhood. Noise issues, drug use, littering, loss of businesses (looks like Olive & Grand Food Mart is shutting down) - it cuts right through our neighborhood and is an uninviting divider separating Lyon & William Streets from the rest.

It's time to clean this mess up.
Follow the Howe St model - not long ago, that wasn't a great place to be after dark. Now it's totally transformed.
Put up cameras to curb illicit activity, and improve pedestrian confidence at night.
Calm traffic and improve access by adding a bike lane (to connect with existing bike lanes downtown, and beginning on Grand Ave entering Fair Haven). Street parking - metered and/or resident.

This would be a serious quality of life improvement for neighbors, and connecting just-out-of-downtown businesses to a growing downtown.
Time to start a conversation.

Someone decided to do some drawing on the big picture-map at the top of East Rock.
I had my kinda-coarse biking gloves on so I got it to come off with a bit of effort & friction. Sometimes its best to take initiative and clean up after idiots on your own - we're all part of the community.

But for the future, please grow up and get a hobby.

Neither of the brown cans were emptied this week. Reason was "construction."
They probably saw through a hole in a bag that one did contain *small,* broken pieces of sheetrock and some sandpaper. Another bag had *small* cut-up wood chunks. The majority of the can contents are typical household waste.
This is a 2-family house and we now have no garbage can space for either apartment for this week.

I'm a homeowner doing my own remodeling. Not a contractor or property manager. Is the rule that ZERO "construction" related material can go in the brown cans, even if it is inside the can (not on the sidewalk) and double-black bagged?
If so I was unaware, I did not think that can contents mattered as long as it was not hazardous/regulated waste.

***Not an issue - just a general question for neighbors***

I've noticed over the past few months that there is a recurring vibration every night usually around 10-10:30ish, that lasts from a few minutes up to maybe 15 minutes. The vibration is NOT related to anything in the house or on the property. No discernible noise associated with it, but is very noticeable when on a mattress, and with blinds, shower doors, etc.

Purely curious to hear if anyone else notices this. I'm wondering if it is related to the I-95 construction or work on the train tracks.

I live on the 2nd floor of a wood-frame house in the upper Wooster Square area. Friend 2 doors down in a basement apartment of a brick building doesn't feel it. The wood frame and elevation would certainly transfer any vibrations more.